Assessment of stormwater Best Management Practices

Urban runoff is a significant non-point pollution source.  There is an increase in the quantity of runoff because of the impervious nature of urban developments and a degredation of the water quality due to exposure of the runoff to the solids, nutrients, metals and hydrocarbons that are associated with urban development.  Remediation measures have been designed and built, but generally are not assessed and maintained properly.  This project is to develop assessment procedures for the multitude of urban runoff management practices so that knowledge about performance and required maintenance is cost-effective to obtain.  We have developed a four-level assessment approach, including (in increasing level of effort): 1) Visual inspection, 2) Capacity testing, 3) Synthetic runoff tests, and 4) Monitoring.  Depending on the requirements and objectives of the assessment, managers may choose the appropriate assessment level.